Armagh International Road Race

2nd March 2006

The annual Armagh International Road Races has it all; a great 1km race loop, superb organisation and a marvellous turnout of quality athletes from around the world. All of these make the event one of the best attended in the NIAF calendar. This years event lived up to the hype and there were some excellent performances from local athletes in the below freezing temperatures last Thursday night.

The Senior Ladies race was truly awesome, with the first seven competitors breaking the previous course record of 10:02 for the 3000-metre race. Kate Reid from Bristol West destroyed the record and led the athletes home in an astonishing 9:15. First Northern Ireland lady was Jill Shannon of Lagan Valley in 10:00, 2 seconds under the previous record. A strong performance from Newcastle International Kerry Harty, 7th overall in 10:10, laid the foundation for team glory for the Red and Yellow’s. Catherine McCloskey, using the Race as a final preparation before travelling to Bournemouth to represent Northern Ireland at the British Veterans Cross Country Championships, finished 20th in 11:20 and Martina Hawkins, on the way back after a long period of injury came home in 21st place, 6 seconds behind Catherine. Given the strength in depth available to clubs like Lagan Valley and Abbey, this was a tremendous result for the ladies and will fill them with confidence for the rest of the season. We will be expecting great things from them

The Senior Men’s race was a more tactical affair and no records were broken over the 5000-metre race. Going into the final lap a number of runners were still in contention and the first seven finishers, led home by Vyacheslav Shabunin from Russia, were separated by 7 seconds. Such was the quality of the truly international field that the first Northern Ireland athlete, John Downes from the host club Armagh AC, finished in 25th place. Newcastle AC had four runners in the race and all had reasons to be pleased with their performance. For Joe McCann (16:37) it marked something of a return to form and a welcome diversion from the endurance training needed for the marathon. Richard Rodgers, another who had perhaps one eye on the British Veteran’s Championships 48 hours later, recorded 16:56 a few days after clocking a very impressive 9:42 for 3000metres indoors at the Odyssey Arena. Richard has been Newcastle’s most prolific racer this year, displaying tremendous consistency week after week, and has recorded a number of impressive victories in recent cross country events. Eamonn McCrickard is a rapidly improving athlete and this is clearly evidenced by his knocking a minute and a half of his PB for the distance, finishing in 17 minutes dead. Eamonn is a very fast starter and a devilishly quick finisher. When he gets the 4800 metres in between sorted out he will prove impossible to beat! Another great performance came from Newcastle AC’s newest son, Declan McElroy, who still in his first year of competition continues to make rapid progress. Despite the wind against the blue coat, he too set a PB, striding home in an impressive 18:40. Declan also showed his commitment to the team by his performance at the post race tea and sandwiches, by successfully sampling the contents of every plate on offer – an awesome achievement by anyone’s standards. When told that there is always a good spread after Jimmy’s 10K, Declan confessed to be already looking forward to the race!!

All in all it was a successful evening for the Newcastle club who will be looking forward to the forthcoming races such as Jimmy’s 10K and the Omagh Half Marathon with optimism. Their sanguinity will be greater in the knowledge that other stalwarts of the road racing scene like Paul Rodgers and Paul McWhirt will soon be pacing the tarmac in pursuit of hounour. Watch this space!!!